Which synth/groovebox/whatever for all round production?

- ask away
User avatar
Lunganar
mnml newbie
mnml newbie
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Feb 25, 2015 9:42 pm

Re: Which synth/groovebox/whatever for all round production?

Post by Lunganar »

Sometimes I still use my old RS7000 as a sequencer, and controller for ableton. I like the buttons and knobs. After recording some ideas, I work them out in ableton
akseltone
mnml newbie
mnml newbie
Posts: 27
Joined: Sun Nov 23, 2014 3:14 pm
Location: Boca Raton, FL. , USA
Contact:

Re: Which synth/groovebox/whatever for all round production?

Post by akseltone »

this topic is exactly on point where i'm at. just picked up Korg esx-1 and Roland mc 303, and thinking to do elektron machine drum, real soon. To be able to not to stare at the screen and use your intuition and ear to come up with a composition works well for me. Work flow is different .i found myself liking hardware more, but i think if we combine them in a proper way u can get amazing results and i recommend everyone doing that. :)

Have a great day
maks
mnml newbie
mnml newbie
Posts: 25
Joined: Wed Sep 20, 2006 5:27 pm

Re: Which synth/groovebox/whatever for all round production?

Post by maks »

integration is the deal , and anyone wanting to experience that without issue should check this out!!

http://www.expert-sleepers.co.uk/usamo.html
User avatar
John Clees
mnml admn
mnml admn
Posts: 7708
Joined: Mon Mar 07, 2005 4:21 am
Location: walk the e[art]h : detroit-metro.
Contact:

Re: Which synth/groovebox/whatever for all round production?

Post by John Clees »

Lunganar wrote:Sometimes I still use my old RS7000 as a sequencer, and controller for ableton. I like the buttons and knobs. After recording some ideas, I work them out in ableton
exactly. just a tool. not an "all in one" but a tool to function together with all the other units. each in their own placement.
AK wrote:Funny that, I'm considering the MPC1000 myself. .
I had the older mpc (red & blue). now they have black and perhaps a few more. I'm sure it was early on the bid, and i'm sure the older non "cool" colors, are perhaps evening going for cheaper, but it was going for $180 or so.. so if your still in the market, you may want to target that color if cost is a factor..
User avatar
John Clees
mnml admn
mnml admn
Posts: 7708
Joined: Mon Mar 07, 2005 4:21 am
Location: walk the e[art]h : detroit-metro.
Contact:

Re: Which synth/groovebox/whatever for all round production?

Post by John Clees »

I also learned some things I'll share here when I purchased my mpc 1000. initially I wanted to use it for a live pa primarily. After spending $1000, and plus $200 for the expanded card, and perhaps even something else added/expanded - when it came down to it, even after all that, it only loads 250 MB at a time.

I've seen sean deason once do a live pa/dj set, which is another work around to that shortcoming. play one track, the dj/mix in a record / repeat. I also saw a show in detroit where jake farley used an mpc 1000. I later personally wrote him to ask, as I was excited to see him use one, but later found it it was just loops already in order, and muting parts on/off.

So it's possible to maneuver through things I suppose, but not how I had planned, and I also felt the basic details were annoying and cumbersome to a work flow going. I enjoyed creating on a box/machine, but found myself not using it all that often after a while.

For what I paid for it it was a let down, but now you can scoop those up for like 70% off what I paid, so it might be a good tool for the current used market place.
AK
mnml maxi
mnml maxi
Posts: 1973
Joined: Fri Apr 11, 2008 8:01 pm
Location: Worcestershire

Re: Which synth/groovebox/whatever for all round production?

Post by AK »

John Clees wrote:I also learned some things I'll share here when I purchased my mpc 1000. initially I wanted to use it for a live pa primary. After spending $1000, and plus $200 for the expanded card, and perhaps even something else added/expanded - when it came down to it, even after all that, it only loads 250 MB at a time.

I've seen sean deason once do a live pa/dj set, which is another work around to that shortcoming. play one track, the dj/mix in a record / repeat. I also saw a show in detroit where jake farley used an mpc 1000. I later personally wrote him to ask, as I was excited to see him use one, but later found it it was just loops already in order, and muting parts on/off.

So it's possible to maneuver through things I suppose, but not how I had planned, and I also felt the basic details were annoying and cumbersome to a work flow going. I enjoyed creating on a box/machine, but found myself not using it all that often after a while.

For what I paid for it it was a let down, but now you can scoop those up for like 70% off what I paid, so it might be a good tool for the current used market place.
Interesting. I have been looking at something to use whilst away from home ( which can be quite often ) I intend to sample/load various parts/stems/phrases and drums from particular projects I am working on to be able to further them whilst away as I am bound by a desktop pc at home and time spent there making music is limited. I actually thought, why don't I just get a laptop but maybe something like an mpc might give me a different edge, esp when it comes to jamming out arrangements and playing with ideas.

Aside from using it like that though, I have been wondering what the efx and envelope parameters are like and whether I can actually make sounds in it. With some other samplers, esp. emu, they have a lot of scope for taking say a basic sampled & looped waveform or a number of them and applying synthesis techniques to create entirely new sounds in themselves. I wondered what sort of depth the 1000 has in this area or whether it would be more suited to the sequencing and playing back of stuff. Im not really sure I understand what it can and cannot do
User avatar
John Clees
mnml admn
mnml admn
Posts: 7708
Joined: Mon Mar 07, 2005 4:21 am
Location: walk the e[art]h : detroit-metro.
Contact:

Re: Which synth/groovebox/whatever for all round production?

Post by John Clees »

you hit the nail on the head. I like the features and using the sampler, using the pads and the experience of it, but that's exactly what it was missing as the ability to manipulate sounds as most other samplers have five six seven eight different knobs to manipulate the sounds on the spot. I found the effects were limited and it was a challenge just to maneuver through things to get really basic elements to change.

just from my perspective it would be convenient to take along with you, very close to a size of a laptop, and be used to play back loops in parts would be it strong point, and manipulating sounds which would be a weak point.

You may want to look into a Roland 404. a good friend of mine picked one of those up after looking around a bit as well. it can be battery operated, extremely portable, sample based, and from what I looked into I think the effects are pretty decent when I looked into that unit before my last purchase.
AK
mnml maxi
mnml maxi
Posts: 1973
Joined: Fri Apr 11, 2008 8:01 pm
Location: Worcestershire

Re: Which synth/groovebox/whatever for all round production?

Post by AK »

That's the thing see, if I was loading the mpc up with clips I'd made in live to arrange into a track, usually at that stage, I have no idea when or if I may need to be adding filters, efx and whatever until I come to arrange it. I'm probably gonna end up settling on a laptop to be honest, as it seems the best bet to carry on with some tracks whilst away from home.

Man, I wish there was something like the mpc around with features like some of the old e-mu samplers. I love the specs on the e-mu 4xt ultra:

128-voice Polyphony.
32-part multitimbrality (2 sets of MIDI connections).
64Mb RAM.
3.2Gb Hard Drive.
Dual 24-bit effects processors.
21 filter types.
8 Balanced analogue outputs.
Word clock & AES/EBU I/O.
240 x 64-dot Custom Backlit Display.
48-track sequencer.
Arpeggiator.
9 bundled CD-ROMs (over 2Gb of sounds); PC/Mac editing software.

Imagine that in a box like the mpc with its style of sequencing. That would be something else... http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/aug99/a ... multra.htm

Radikal Technologies Spectralis 2 looked good but it's both expensive and incomplete and difficult to buy.
Post Reply